Iman Satria and Niniek Karmini Updated September 14, 2026 — 6:28am,first published 4:18pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. AAA Jakarta: The search is continuing for at least 129 people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in Indonesia’s Java Sea
Iman Satria and Niniek Karmini
Updated ,first published
Jakarta: The search is continuing for at least 129 people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in Indonesia’s Java Sea on Sunday.
At least 108 people were rescued, and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as the search operation expanded around the vessel’s last known position.
The ferry, with more than 240 people on board, was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island, officials said.
The captain had reported rough seas with waves up to 3 metres before issuing a distress call, saying the ship was listing, said I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned.
The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 about 2am Sunday.
A rescue ship was headed to the vessel’s last known position, the agency said, and by Sunday afternoon authorities were deploying teams supported by a dozen vessels, including four navy ships, and two helicopters.
Bodies recovered
Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometres from Banjarmasin. The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 243 people – 213 passengers and 30 crew members – although it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest. The vessel was also transporting 89 vehicles.
Sudayana, who is co-ordinating the search, said search teams, assisted by nearby tugboats and other passing vessels, had rescued 107 people and recovered six bodies by Sunday afternoon.
The 119-metre Virgo Transport 8 ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year, when it was sold to the current Indonesian operator, PT Virgo Karya Shipping.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said aerial searches showed the ferry was floating upside down and had not sunk. Rescuers were concentrating search efforts around the overturned vessel, he told reporters.
Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday showed an overturned ferry floating in choppy waters during a helicopter search operation.
Separate footage captured exhausted survivors disembarking from a rescue ship at a port in Banjarmasin, while injured victims were carried on stretchers before being taken by ambulances to nearby hospitals.
Distraught relatives wait for news
Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command centre in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard the ferry. Many anxiously checked passenger manifests and rescue lists as authorities continued searching for survivors.
“I was shocked when I saw my uncle’s name on the passenger list,” said a woman who goes by a single name, Bunga. “But I felt relieved after officials told me he had been rescued.”
Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common mode of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.
AP
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